Blockhead Baby Quilt

I’m Allegory from {sew}Allegorical and I’m so very excited to share my first Moda Bake Shop project with you!

Growing up I often placed building blocks and Legos on my Christmas list to Santa but every year he brought me Barbies instead. As soon as I was grown up I started to buy them for myself! 😉

Today I’ve used that love to design a quilt that would make a fabulous baby play mat or work just as well as a wall hanging. To keep things classic, I’ve used colors from the Bella Solid line but I think the quilt could be just as dazzling in prints.

This 36″ square quilt uses two block designs (with a third optional) that can be arranged however you please to make your top. I’ll show you my configuration but please feel free to play with your blocks and make your own layout!

While it may look complicated, I put together my quilt in one day; which includes all the time I spent playing with the blocks to see how I wanted them laid out. 😉

*If making this quilt out of different prints you’ll be able to make it with a single Charm Pack of your choice. For an all solids quilt you’ll need multiple charm packs or a layer cake to ensure you have 5-6 squares of the same color.
For Blockhead Face:
Scrap pieces of Black Bella Solid
Scrap piece of fusible web
Black embroidery thread

All seams are 1/4″ wide.WOF = width of fabric

For background fabric (White Solid):

Your background fabric will be used in 1.5″ and 2.5″ strips to build your quilt.
You’ll need one 1.5″ strip and two 2.5″ strips per row.

Plus an additional three 2.5″ strips for sashing between rows.

My total strip cuts for the whole top were (4) 1.5″ strips and (11) 2.5″ strips.

To make the exact layout as mine you’ll need to cut the following from your strips:

(55) 1.5″ squares

(5) 1.5″ x 5″ strips

(1) 1.5″ x 10″ strip

(25) 2.5 x 5″ strips

(1) 2.5″ x 6.5″ strip

Sashing:

Vertical between blocks: (13) 2.5″ x 5.5″

Horizontal between rows: (3) 2.5″ x width of fabric

This quilt consists of two basic blocks: a single and a stacked.

We’ll start with piecing the single block.

Single Block Construction:

Cut three 1.5″ squares of your background fabric.

Cut one charm square in half. One half will form the bottom of your block. Out of the second half cut two 1.5″ squares.

Piece together the 1.5″ squares alternating background fabric and the solid from your charm square.

You’ll need the following pieces cut to create a stacked block:
Background Fabric – Two 2.5″ x 5″ strips and five 1.5″ squares.
Charm Fabric One – One 2.5″ x 5″ strip and two 1.5″ squares
Charm Fabric Two – One 2.5″ x 5″ strip and one 1.5″ square

The stacked block begins with a single block as shown above. Piece your single block from Charm Fabric One (shown in yellow).

For the second part of this block you’ll piece together the remaining 1.5″ squares into a strip with Charm Fabric Two in the middle.

Attach this strip to one of the 2.5″ x 5″ strips of background fabric and trim down.

Your block will look like this:

Attach this piece to the left side of your single block with the green square on the bottom.

Out of your beginning cuts you should have a two 2.5″ strips remaining, one in your background fabric and one in Charm Fabric Two. Sew these together on the short side (2.5″).

You should now have two pieces that look like this:

Aligning the left sides, join the two pieces together There will be overhang of the background fabric on the right. Trim this off after sewing the two strips together.

And now you have a stacked block!

Make (4) stacked blocks in various colors.

If you are making a Blockhead Face, you’ll need to Add one more row onto one stacked set for a triple stack:

Optional Face Block:
The entire quilt can be constructed with the single and the stacked blocks but I thought it’d be fun to have the oh-so-recognizable face block included too!

To make this block you’ll need a 3.5″ square and a 1.5″ square of solid yellow fabric plus all the garnishes.

Form your strip of 1.5″ squares just as if you were making a stacked block.
It should go: background fabric – yellow – background fabric.
Attach this piece to the top of your 3.5″ square and trim.

Following manufacturer directions, attach fusible web to your scrap of black fabric. Cut out two 1/4″ squares and iron onto your block. Then embellish by adding a mouth with black embroidery thread.

Face block complete!

To build a row you’ll need to add your sashing pieces. This is where you have the chance to move your single and stacked blocks around to find a layout that you like!

Layout of a sample row:

First step is to add your background strips to the top of each single block. Then join blocks together in the row with a vertical 2.5″ x 5.5″ sashing strip in between each block.

A finished row:

Use your mix of single and stacked blocks to make four rows.

If you decide to include the face block and the triple stack in your quilt it will require extra sashing to make everything even.

First add 2.5″ wide pieces to the bottom of the Face block and the top of the single block. (Background Piece A in picture)

Next add a 1.5″ wide piece to the top of the single block (Piece B).

Join the single block and the Face block together also adding a 2.5″ wide piece to the right of the face block (Piece C).

Last you’ll add a 1.5″ wide background piece to the top (Piece D).

This makes those blocks as tall at the triple stack. The row is joined with the others as normal.

Using your final sashing pieces that are 2.5″ x width of fabric, join rows together with sashing between each row.

*When putting the rows together, there might be some rows that are longer. These rows will have a block that is cut in half and disappears into the border. When joining rows, align all rows on one side and wait to trim off extra fabric until all four rows are together.

Borders:

I have a double border on my quilt to bring it up to 36″ square.

Cut your first border fabric into (4) 2″ x width of fabric strips.

Cut your second border fabric into (4) 2.5″ x width of fabric strips.

Sew borders to both sides of your top and then add border strips to the top and bottom.

You will have fabric to trim from each edge.

Finished Top:

Backing:

Since this quilt is 36″ square it doesn’t require a pieced back!

You simply need a 1.25 yard cut of fabric.

Completing your quilt:

Use whatever basting method you prefer to join together your top, batting and backing.

For my quilting pattern I chose to stitch in the ditch around both borders and then I packed straight lines into the horizontal sash pieces.

For my binding I cut (5) strips of 2.25″ wide binding.

After joining the strips together, I fold it lengthwise and stitch the raw edges to the edge of the quilt.

Then I flip the folded edge to the back of the quilt and run it through my machine again to stitch in place. You can certainly hand stitch your binding in place as well.

One fabulous 36″ square play mat and/or wall hanging.

Ready to make your own? Please do! You can always share your projects in the Moda Bake Shop Group on Flickr. I’ll be checking in there to see if any Blockhead Quilts appear.

I’d love to see what other block arrangements y’all come up with! I know I’m planning to make a mini quilt for a friend and a larger lap quilt using the two block designs.

Thank you so much for checking out my recipe. If you have any questions, you can find a number of different ways to get ahold of me over at {sew}Allegorical.

Who knew that I’d be able to grow up and turn fabric into my own set of building blocks. 😉

A girl just trying to craft while still getting her geek on. My mother taught me to sew at an extremely young age. Then I went and ignored that skill for almost two decades. Now I can never get my hands on enough fabric.

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